


Stories

by queen_scribbles



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 19:04:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14677503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles
Summary: For @pillarspromptsweekly #37: Caed Nua, Good as New





	Stories

**Author's Note:**

> For @pillarspromptsweekly #37: Caed Nua, Good as New

 

She could write her name in the dust. Again. Emiri frowned at the fine white coating on books and bookshelves both. She’s seen one of the servants in here, dusting what he could, barely a week ago. It shouldn’t be this bad already.

Emiri sighed and sat the pile of books she was carrying on the table, raising another cloud of dust. She knew why it was this bad again so quickly. And she was tired of dealing with it. The cracked wall wasn’t a danger--according to the builders repairing the rest of Caed Nua--so library repairs were very low on the list, but every so often it shifted, rock rubbing rock and making more dust. And it was just one of the problems to be found in the library; along with collapsed shelves, splintered tables, and dry-rotted, beetle-eaten books.

 _I’ve put this off long enough,_ she thought to herself, _Made it wait while we repaired the walls and the keep and Brighthollow. It’s time to fix something I want to,_ rather than need to. Emiri stood for a moment, hand resting atop the stack of book, and let herself daydream what the room could look like with a little work.

“Seeing another ghost?” Kana’s jovial question startled her and she jolted, sending the books tumbling off the table. Kana lunged forward to catch them, succeeding for the most part. “Apologies, Emiri, I didn’t realize you were so deep in thought.”

“It’s alright,” she laughed, bending down to pick up one of the books that had made it all the way to the floor. “And in a sense, yes? I was picturing what this place used to look like. What I want to make it look like again.” She cocked her head, smiling sheepishly. “Not that books have souls...”

“Well, you know what they say about good stories coming alive,” Kana said teasingly as he set the rescued books back on the table, and she laughed again.

“I’m tired of the library being so shabby, Kana,” she admitted, playing with her hair. “I’m going to have the work crews fix it up next.”

“I thought the barracks were supposed to be next on the list,” he pointed out gently. “So you could hire more people to watch this place.”

“That was the plan,” Emiri sighed. “Especially after bandits nearly got Gareth and Iwyn while they were working on the south wall. But I can’t stand the state of this room, so I’m bumping it up the list. We’ll just stay and serve as guards ‘til it’s done.” She smiled. “Shouldn’t take more than a couple days. Faster if we help move the books.”

Kana eyed her for several heartbeats. “You’re serious about this.”

“As a maelstrom,” Emiri nodded. “It’s not that big of a delay, and we can use a break from running all over the gods’ creation.”

“You’ll get no argument from me,” he said with a chuckle. “And I’ll be happy to help move the books somewhere safe if you need it.  Their stories are worth preserving after all, and that will be easier to do once this room is fixed up.”

She smiled. “I’ll talk to the Steward.”

-o-o-o-

The Steward, of course, was accommodating to her wishes, though she brought up the same caution Kana had; they needed to hire more people to guard Caed Nua, which couldn’t be done until the barracks were completed so they had somewhere to live. Emiri assuaged that concern the same way she had with Kana, and then skipped off to find the chanter so he could make good on his offer to help her move books. The two of them spent the next several hours in the library, halfway up ladders or sitting on the floor, as shelf after shelf’s worth of books both old and new piled up in the storage crates they’d borrowed. The ones worth saving, at least. Several of the older volumes were beyond repair.

They shared stories as they worked, the vast difference in their backgrounds giving them wildly different tales to tell. After each one Emiri shared, Kana would grin and make her promise to tell him again later so he could write them down. 

“I thought you were a historian, not a bard,” she teased after the third such occurrence.

Kana took it in stride. “You can learn much about a people from their tales.” He winked. “And I just like stories.”

“That I knew already.” Emiri winked back as she carefully stacked a set of Aedyran histories in a half-filled crate. “You don’t exactly hide your enthusiasm. Which I appreciate.”

“Thank you,” he said, still smiling. “Having annoyed several people with that very trait, appreciation’s a welcome change.”

She laughed and showed her appreciation by telling him about one of the pirates who’d kept a magpie as a pet and the number of times the creature had gotten its owner in troublee, or at least come close. Kana returned the favor by telling her about a farmer he’d stayed with while traveling through Ixamitl who had a pet fennec with only three legs.

“Didn’t stop him from getting into all sorts of mischief, of course,” he said with a chuckle. “I only stayed with that farmer a couple days, and in that times, the fennec came home dripping wet under sunny skies no fewer than four times, and looking like it had tussled with something bigger at least twice.”

“Scrappy little thing,” Emiri grinned, slotting the last of the books into free spaces.

“It was indeed,” Kana agreed, hefting a pair of the crates to carry to Brighthollow whle the renovation took place. Emiri trailed behind him, limiting herself to one crate. One of them would need a hand free for the doors, just in case.

-o-o-o-

It took two more trips to get all the books safely tucked away in Brighthollow, and the building foreman, Gareth, promised to begin work in the morning.

Emiri spent the next two days peeking in whenever she got the chance. She never critiqued or commented on the speed of progress, just checked how things were coming along before returning to other tasks. The Steward had plenty of official things to discuss with her, she wwas taking turns patrolling the walls in the absence of more hirelings, watching for Sagani and Aloth to return from escort missions, Kana had offered to help with her reading lessons while Aloth was gone “ _so you don’t lose your place”_. There was plenty to do, and the days flew by.

-o-o-o-

Gareth rapped his knuckles against the kitchen doorframe to catch Emiri’s attention and then inclined his head respectfully. “M’lady, we’ve finished.”

“Oooh, let me see!” Emiri pushed away from the table and followed the man into the keep proper. She couldn’t help letting out a small gasp when she saw the restored glory of her library. “Oh, Gareth, it turned out wonderfully!”

Gareth smiled somewhat bashfully, but beamed with pride at her approval. “My boys did good work, m’lady. I’m glad you agree.”

“Oh, yes, it’s beautiful!” She spun in a circle, grin spreading as she took in the gorgeous polished wood shelves, the sturdy carven tables, and the expert patch job done on the crack in the wall, covered over with a mosaic of adra spires.   “Kana needs to see!” She dashed from the room, then returned to poke her head back in. “Sorry, Gareth, if you have things to do, or want to take a break or something, you don’t have to stay. Thank you, very much, for  doing an excellent job.” She fished a small pouch of fennings from one of her pockets. “A bonus, for you and your men.”

She barely heard his effusive thanks as she bolted off in search of Kana. Aloth could see when he got back--hopefully tonight--but she needed to show someone _now,_ and Kana would appreciate it the most.

-o-o-o-

He did. The two of them spent a good ten minutes walking through the echoey room simply admiring the craftmanship before they started hauling the books back. There were more traded stories, lighthearted banter about starting a filing system--which Maerwald had lacked--and bouts of comfortable silence as they worked. They finished jut before dinner, and less than an hour before Aloth and Sagani made it back. Emiri barely gave Aloth time to eat before she was dragging him to see the library as well.

“They got all this done in two days?” he asked, clearly impressed by the change.

“Two and a half, if you count the time for me and Kana to move the books,” Emiri conceded with a shrug.

“That’s still impressive,” Aloth murmured, running his fingers over the spines of the closest books. “They-” Whatever he was about to say got lost under a yawn, and Emiri chuckled.

“Go get some sleep,” she said with a smile. “I appreciate you indulging my enthusiasm, but we’re back to adventuring tomorrow, and the last thing I need is people collapsing from exhaustion.”

He chuckled as well and nodded. “As you say.”

Emiri only lingered a few more minutes before following him back to Brighthollow, a smile still curving her lips at the assurance that while they adventured, her stories were well taken care of.


End file.
